Petsmart and PetCo don't sell high quality foods. In terms of quality, Blue Buffalo IS the best they sell and it's decent. It has a minimal amount of grains, but contains a couple of ingredients that make me wary. Although there's a lot of meat named, it also contains a LOT of supplements which makes me wary, but if it works for you and your dog, then great. It's lightyears beyond Purina

If you want a completely grain free blue buffalo brand try the WILDERNESS they have 3 flavors it gets 6 stars on dogfoodanalysis.com or whatever it is.

I know I'm jumping in a bit late but I haven't seen if you're looking for a good, lower cost kibble that is grain free or not. TOTW is a decent grain free food that is well priced, it is made by Diamond which is a concern for me but if that is of no concern to you then it's a pretty good food. Blue Buffalo Wilderness is a good food but it is a bit more pricey and you can find it at PetsMart, Petco, and Pet Supermarket in FL. Petco and Pet Supermarket carry some other good foods too like Wellness Core and Solid Gold. Wellness is also pricey but it is another great brand and food but it is also made by what I personally consider less than reliable manufacturers like Diamond, ANI, and Menu Foods.

Costco sells dog food for great prices, Costco's dog food is also made by Diamond and not all stores carry grain free food. Jenn's Costco in CO carries a grain free formula but I have not yet seen any grain free Kirkland dog food in FL or SC. Maybe it hasn't made it's way this far east yet?

I am a lot pickier than most about what I feed my dogs, for me not only is it important for the food/ingredients to be very good but I also want it made by a good company and reliable manufacturer. With that said, I would only feel comfortable recommending foods that I would feel comfortable feeding my own dogs. So as far as lower priced AND good quality kibble goes I would highly recommend Acana as a first choice and Fromm as a second choice. I don't personally feed these foods but if I were ever in a tight spot and had to cut back on my pet food budget then those would be the foods I would consider.

Hope you find something that works. Btw, I too think she could stand to lose a little weight. Everyone, normal people and vets alike, tells me that dogs will gain weight after spaying and neutering (especially spaying) but I have always considered that a bunch of bull. None of my dogs have ever gained weight following a spay or neuter but I keep close tabs on their weight and adjust food portions and exercise as needed depending on how their weights fluctuate.

Huskyluv wrote:

Petco and Pet Supermarket carry some other good foods too like Wellness Core and Solid Gold.

Oo! My bad- I totally forgot that PetSmart & PetCo sell those two. Thank you, Val!

Koda wrote:

Huskyluv wrote:

Petco and Pet Supermarket carry some other good foods too like Wellness Core and Solid Gold.

Oo! My bad- I totally forgot that PetSmart & PetCo sell those two. Thank you, Val!

I need to amend my previous comment, I had forgotten that PetsMart now carries Wellness. Petco also has other "good" foods that are worth considering like Merrick and Halo (good food but very expensive, not worth it's price if you ask me). Both Merrick and Halo are a little higher in price than I think Melissa wanted to go though. I'd even go so far as to mention that Walmart carries Newmans Own dog food which is pretty decent but it does contain grain. I don't typically recommend WM for dog foods but Newmans Own is a much better alternative to Pedigree, Iams, Science Diet, Eukanuba, Purina, etc while still being easy to find (if WM is conveniently located nearby) and well priced. My mom feeds Newmans Own kibble and canned food to her dog and he does very well on it, and my mom won't feed any food that doesn't get my approval.

Wow- okay- I need to head into Petsmart and check out their food selection. Apparently a lot has changed! I typically never go-- I head to local pet stores instead, but it's good to know what's out there.

i just picked up the wellness core reduced cal food at petco for Sierra. and how did this tread get taken over by food talk? it was about dogs weight i will post sierras weight in a month on this need food and hope it works! along with the added biking im hoping to get started on when everything gets here.

I will be finding out Mika's true weight here in a few weeks, as she is due for her shots. I KNOW she is getting bigger all the time, and I am confounded as to what to do! I know she's put on weight, as I went to lift her up on the bed last week, and oh, my goodness! I almost threw my back out! Poor girl almost fell on her face, as I wasn't expecting her to be THAT heavy and almost dropped her.
Hopefully, the vet won't be too upset with us. Really, we don't feed her any more than the others, but for some reason, it seems to really stick to her ribs! Literally! I'll try to get a pic from the top, and you guys will see what I mean. It has to be from getting fixed, it's all I can think of.

Do they all weigh the same? I think sometimes we forget that dogs that weigh differently get sometimes drastically different portions. Hailey weighs LESS than half Koda, but she gets half the food portion that he gets and that's what's been maintaining her. When we first got her, we were overfeeding her for that reason. It was a mistake that we made too.

Tori, are you asking me that question?

Koda wrote:

Do they all weigh the same? I think sometimes we forget that dogs that weigh differently get sometimes drastically different portions. Hailey weighs LESS than half Koda, but she gets half the food portion that he gets and that's what's been maintaining her. When we first got her, we were overfeeding her for that reason. It was a mistake that we made too.

In addition to what Tori mentioned, also consider that even dogs weighing the same amount and being equal in size may still require different portions as well when you factor in different metabolic rates. My chi girls are similar size and similar weights but they get drastically different portions because one has a very high metabolism and burns off food almost as soon as she eats it while the other gains weight just from looking at food.

amykmac wrote:

Tori, are you asking me that question?

Yeah But the question was also meant to aid the thread.

Koda wrote:

amykmac wrote:

Tori, are you asking me that question?

Yeah But the question was also meant to aid the thread.

I just didn't want to speak out of turn....
Anyway, Nanuk & Isis run about even..54 & 52#, respectively. Mika was close for awhile, and honestly, I don't know exactly how much she weighs now. I'll find out in a few weeks. I can just look at her & know she's too big! She is always first done kibbling. I think if she ate slower, it might help? But that's impossible! Eddie thinks he's got a piggie...Mika's got him beat! Her new nick-name is "Mika-Moo-Moo". Affectionately, of course!

Kratos now weighs around 60 lbs, which worries me because that's where he's supposed to stop. But he's not anywhere close to being overweight. You can feel his ribs, but not see them & he has that sleek figure huskies are supposed to have.

Thanks all! This has definitely helped! And Amyk, the exact same thing happened to us! She doesn't eat much and the food literally sticks to her ribs! We just purchased the Blue Buffalo today and she seems to enjoy it. She was guarding her food like there's not tomorrow! Talk about not being able to walk by her. lol! I'm trying my hardest to give her more exercise than usual, but being in Miami, it's a bit hot for her to bare more than 20-30min walks. Hopefully in the next months once it cools down we can go for longer =)

MelissaI wrote:

Thanks all! This has definitely helped! And Amyk, the exact same thing happened to us! She doesn't eat much and the food literally sticks to her ribs! We just purchased the Blue Buffalo today and she seems to enjoy it. She was guarding her food like there's not tomorrow! Talk about not being able to walk by her. lol! I'm trying my hardest to give her more exercise than usual, but being in Miami, it's a bit hot for her to bare more than 20-30min walks. Hopefully in the next months once it cools down we can go for longer =)

I don't know which formula of Blue Buffalo you got but wanted to make sure everyone is aware that Blue Buffalo issued a voluntary recall today on certain batches of their Wilderness Chicken, Basics Salmon, and Large Breed Adult Chicken formulas.

More info can be found on their website (below) regarding what batches are affected:
Blue Buffalo Recall

"At Blue Buffalo, nothing is more important than the health and well being of our dogs and cats, so it’s consistent with this guiding principle that we are voluntarily recalling specific production runs of our Wilderness Chicken-Dog, Basics Salmon-Dog and Large Breed Adult Dog products, as we have reason to believe that the products from these runs may contain a higher level of Vitamin D than is called for in our product specifications.

We came to this conclusion after discovering that our ingredient supplier had made a scheduling error and produced a Vitamin D supplement immediately prior to preparing the ingredients for the BLUE products that are in question. We believe that some of the Vitamin D supplement may have been carried over into our products, resulting in more Vitamin D than is called for in our formulas.

While the potential of increased Vitamin D presents no serious health risk, and any negative reaction to these products has been confined to a very small segment of the canine population who appear to be sensitive to higher levels of Vitamin D, we have a zero tolerance for any product that does not meet our specifications. I think you’ll agree that our decision to withdraw these specific products is simply the right thing to do.

From a next steps standpoint, all products with the specific manufacturing dates in question will be removed from retailer’s shelves. If you have any products with the codes shown below you should stop feeding them immediately.You may call Blue Buffalo at
1-877-523-9114 to arrange for return of the product and reimbursement.

These are the ONLY code dates being recalled:
Product Bag Size Best Used By Dates
BLUE Wilderness Chicken (Dog) 4.5 lb., 11 lb., 24lb. JUL1211B, JUL1311B, JUL2611Z, JUL2711Z, JUL2811Z
BLUE Basics Salmon (Dog) 11 lb., 24 lb. AUG2111B, AUG2211B
BLUE Large Breed Adult Chicken 30 lb. SEP 22 11 P, SEP 23 11 P, OCT 26 11 P

This Vitamin D issue does not effect any other code dates of these products or any other Blue Buffalo dog or cat foods. In addition, new bags of Wilderness Chicken, Basics Salmon and Large Breed Adult Chicken will be available on the shelves so you can continue to feed BLUE with complete confidence.

If your dog has shown any adverse reaction to the recalled products, have him checked by your veterinarian. Typical symptoms might include excessive water intake and/or excessive urination, and in some cases vomiting. Blue Buffalo will reimburse any veterinary or testing expenses related to illness caused by these products.

As Blue Buffalo is a family founded and run company, I am personally very upset about this and apologize for any discomfort or inconvenience that this situation has caused you or your pet family members. Product quality and safety have been, and always will be our top priority, and we’ve taken some serious corrective action to insure that this type of human error will never happen again."

I hope you are not affected.

Koda wrote:

Petsmart and PetCo don't sell high quality foods. In terms of quality, Blue Buffalo IS the best they sell and it's decent. It has a minimal amount of grains, but contains a couple of ingredients that make me wary. Although there's a lot of meat named, it also contains a LOT of supplements which makes me wary, but if it works for you and your dog, then great. It's lightyears beyond Purina

Petco has started selling Wellness CORE which excites me! (6* dry dog food) I feed that when I feel like giving the dogs a little bit of a change up or when someone other than me has to feed them (dont trust anyone else to feed them the raw diet). They LOVE it.

Nikki runs between 53-55lbs. Shes quite tell for a female husky..don't know exact numbers but she is tall.

**Edit: just realized Huskyluv already posted about wellness core

Petco also sells Natural Balance and Barking at the Moon which are good foods

HI Guys, about a week ago I changed Mya's food to Blue Buffalos high protein, low carb formula (i was going towards the healthy weight formula, but the petstore had run out and she was out of food). I've been walking her about 3 times a day now that it's cooled down a bit in Miami. When I say cool down, that means 70 degrees lol! Her stool isn't so mushy and she goes a few times more than she did before. She also looks a bit thinner to us. She loves the food might I add! I think we're on a good road here

Nero on his 4 month birthday was 33lbs

Glad to hear she's doing well on her new food

Thanks! She likes it so much that she licks her bowl for like 5 minutes after she's done..lol. It breaks my heart, but I've been strong and not given her more!

On a weigh in, Koda was about 40lbs back in June.. very skinny! Now, after switching to Ziwipeak + Primal, he is weighing in at 53.6lbs. He is looking very good and you can't see or feel his hip bone anymore, yay! He still needs a few lbs, but we'll see what his "healthy" weight is. He is about 23.5" and standard max is that with 65lbs, but I think he'd be chunky at that weight.

We did weigh ins this past weekend and I'm over the moon happy that my boy finally lost the extra weight he's been carrying for close to a year now. He's finally down to 56 lbs! He's been hovering at a slightly heavier 58-60 lbs for the past year so I am overjoyed to see him slim down a bit. He looks so handsome now, you can see his curves and well defined muscle lines. Bring on the lady sibes cuz we've got one hot devil here in Charleston!